1993 ESPN Management decides to devote significant resources to the creation of an international gathering of alternative sport athletes. A team is assembled to develop the concept that originated in the ESPN Programming Department.

1994 At a press conference at Planet Hollywood in New York City on April 12, ESPN announces that the first Extreme Games will be held in Rhode Island in late June of 1995.

1995 From June 24 through July 1, the Extreme Games are held in Newport, Providence and Middletown, RI, and Mount Snow, Vermont. Competitions are held in nine sport categories, including windsurfing, bungy jumping and mountain biking. The event was sponsored by seven companies, including Advil, Mountain Dew, Taco Bell, Chevy Trucks, AT&T, Nike and Miller Lite Ice.

1995 EXTREME GAMES

Newport, Rhode Island results report, pics.ESPN2 is holding its first Extreme Games contest.
The two BMX sports included in the games are vert riding and dirt jumping. By invitation only. $7000 purse in the vert category and $4000 for dirt jumping.
Steve Swope, BMX Business News, 2001:I was very excited about the possibilities of what it could mean to the sport if done well but slightly tentative about what could happen if we were made to look like a circus act. In 1995 I was the manager of our traveling fair show called the Sprocket Jockey Bicycle Stunt Show, VP of HB and a competing pro in vert and into our 4th year of organizing the Bicycle Stunt Series, which were the biggest bike competitions at the time. Basically I looked at them from the perception of an athlete first and a bike company owner second and a competition organizer third. We all knew it was going to be the biggest BMX competition ever and hopefully it would be done with minimal cheesiness and represented us in as close to true form as TV is capable. It came off very well thanks to the first bike organizers Hal Brindley and Steve Buddendeck.

Competition in nine sports attracted 198,000 spectators.
Based on that success, ESPN decides to hold the event the following year, based on the success perceived by the athletes, organizers, spectators, producers and sponsors. The decision is made in October to hold the event in Rhode Island for the second year, based on the 1995's successes.

1996 X-GAMES

In January, the event name Extreme Games is officially changed to the X Games. Reasons for this are many, namely allowing easier translation to international televisers and better branding opportunities.

Newport, Rhode Island, june 24-30 results, report, pics.In June approximately 200,000 spectators turn out for the X Games. Trevor Meyer won flat and Dave Mirra won both Street and Vert. Two key highlights were Dave Osato pulling a 360 tailwhip and Dave Voelker entering for Vert.

1997 X-GAMES

In March the X Trials, a qualifying event for the X Games, holds its first contest in Providence, RI. A similar X Trials was also held one month later in Orlando, FL.

1997 X-Games San Diego results, report, pics.1997 was the first year that the Flatland discipline was included in the X-Games.
From June 20 through June 28, a record crowd of 221,000 fans watches in San Diego and Oceanside as the third annual X Games continues to impress. Big Air snowboarding replaces bungy jumping and amazes San Diegans with a 10-story jump on the beach.

In september, the X Games Xperience is held at Disneyland in Paris, France. The event was held in conjunction with Eurosport.

In december, citing overwhelming success, the X Games are officially invited back to San Diego for 1998 by Mayor Susan Golding.

1998 X-GAMES

In April, the first-ever international X Games qualifying event is held. The Asian X Games features 200 athletes from the Pacific Rim competing in Phuket, Thailand for a limited amount of spots in the San Diego X Games.

In May, the second year of X-Trials competition
begins. The 1998 X Trials appear in St. Petersburg, FL, and Virginia Beach, VA, and continue to verify the belief that interest in alternative sports is growing rapidly across the country.

1998 X-Games San Diego results, report, pics.In June the X Games tops its attendance mark for the fourth consecutive year. More than 233,000 spectators flock to Mariner's Point in San Diego for the fourth annual X Games.

1999 X-GAMES

In late April and early May, the third year of qualifying events called the X trials take place in Louisville, Kentucky and Richmond, Virginia. Crowds top 30,000 for the four-day events, with the promotional tour, the Xperience, taking place in conjunction with the competitions.

1999 X-Games San Francisco report, results, pics.From June 27 .July 4, the X Games in San Francisco attracts nearly 275,000 spectators .who were treated to Tony Hawk's first-ever skateboarding 900 and the X Games debut of MotoX.

2000 X-GAMES

From March through June, the ESPN B3 and X Trials events took place across the country, qualifying athletes to compete in the 2000 X Games in San Francisco, CA. Beginning in Lake Havasu, AZ, re-visiting Louisville KY, and St. Petersburg FL, ending in Nashville TN, ESPN's B3 and X Trials events were the most successful to-date and wrapped up the Road to X.

2000 X-Games San Francisco. Results, report, pics, video.
The 2000 X Games take place August 17th .22nd in San Francisco, Calif. on Piers 30/32. The X Games once again bring together more than 350 of the world's best alternative sport athletes to compete for nearly 1 million in prize money and medals. ESPN holds the first ever X Games Step-Up contest and announces the launch of its four newest ventures; Action Sports and Music Awards, International X Games Qualifiers, X Games Global Challenge, and an agreement with Woodward Camps to begin building skateparks across the country.

2001 X-Games Philadelphia, Penn., august 17-23 results report pictures
All X Games events are free to the public. In its first year as X Games host, Philadelphia drew 235,000 spectators during X Games VII, August 17-22, 2001. It was the first time the Games have been held on the east coast since the 1996 Games in Rhode Island. 2001 was the first year that the downhill BMX was included in the X-Games.
Stephen Murray fired out a double backflip on dirt. He won dirt, Martti Kuoppa won flat, Bruce Crisman won park and Dave Mirra walked away with the vert win.

2002 X-GAMES

2002 X-Games, Philadelphia, PA, august 15-19
350 of the world's best action sports athletes competing in a variety of sports events for medals and more than $1 million in total prize money.
Downhill BMX will once again be held at Woodward Camp, the world's premier action sports camp, on August 10 and 11 in Woodward, Pa., near State College.
Kevin McAvoy, Transworld BMX december 2002: The most hyped-up action sports event of the year went down once in again in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and it was hot in every sense of the word. Some of the riders were really turning the screws on the competition, and the tricks were red-hot: 360 double-whip (Jay Miron); double tailwhip and a five-whip on vert (Dave Mirra); no-handed 900 (Mat Hoffman); flip-whip in park and a barspin-to-tailwhip attempt on vert (Chad Kagy); superman-seatgrab 360 and a double flip attempt (TJ Lavin); 720s over the spine and the first set in dirt, plus a 720 lookback attempt (Ryan Nyquist); and the list goes on. Mother Nature did a little screw-turning herself, making the parking lot of the First Union center feel like the middle of the desert at high noon. It was hard enough to walk around, much less ride a bike at a professionally competitive level.Report, results, pics, video.

ESPN has decided to reduce the number of riders invited to the 2004 X Games. The field of invited athletes in every discipline has been reduced to ten (10), and all events will be finals only.

Flatland and Downhill BMX will be dropped from the 2004 X Games.
X Games has had seven successful years of Bike Stunt Flatland and three exciting years of Downhill BMX. We have enjoyed showcasing and working with the world-class athletes and we thank them for their dedication to their sport. Our evaluation of sports in the X Games includes a sports' progression, growth and infrastructure, as well as a review of viewership, spectator, demographic and psychographic as they pertain to that sport. Results of these factors have led us to the decision of not including Flatland and Downhill BMX in X Games this year. We continue to work with our valuable partner the Hoffman Sports Association (HSA) in their role as sport organizer for the Bike Stunt events at X Games: Vert, Park and Dirt.